


Between Vows

by TenTonParasol



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Republic Commando Series - Karen Traviss
Genre: F/M, Listen. I have reasons for it. I thought it through I swear., On Hiatus, Post-Series, So that I could work on restructuring the piece, trust me.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-22 09:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7431021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenTonParasol/pseuds/TenTonParasol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The conciseness and simplicity of Mandalorian vows don't properly capture the complexities of a relationship. A collection of mini fics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Vows

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by a [fic prompt list by lilloury on Tumblr](http://lilloury.tumblr.com/post/110395333021/send-me-a-ship-and-one-of-these-and-ill-write-a), with the prompts reordered for my own purposes. Chronologically follows through a post-series continuation.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things you said I wish you hadn't

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that updates are going to be taking a long time--I've suddenly become very busy, and I've rethought through the structure of the work--and that this chapter is undergoing a major revision in the future.

Ordo, as always, even now, marveled at the Mandalorian ability to be so vast in such conciseness.  _Mhi solus tome. Mhi solus dar'tome. Mhi me'dinui an. Mhi ba'juri verde._ Four sentences, twelve words, covered the whole of the traditional wedding ceremony. Mandalorians needed no more to cover both vows and contract, to touch both the poetic and the mundane. So simple it hid all the complexities of living up to the vows.

Terse as the marriage contract was, ending it took even less. Those bound only needed to declare—

" _Mhi shuk'la riduurok_ ," Ordo said. He wore his officer's voice, distant and unemotional and far from the tightness in his throat.

One sentence, three words. We are divorced. If one wanted to be a little wordier, but a little more literal, in the Basic: We have a broken marriage contract.

"That's it?" Besany asked in that lilt, the one she always put on to mask her surprise. "All there is?"

"Yes. That's all it takes. Now you."

"I remember how it works."

He lifted his chin and squared his shoulders, too fast defensive. "I'm sorry."

Her eyes flickered upward, not quite meeting his. Still, they were almost accusing— _Sorry for what, specifically?_ But she said nothing. She looked down again.

They stood with heads bowed, her fingers draped over his how they used to be. He led her into many a dance like this, all flourish and romance. The thrumming in his chest was still here, but the rhythm was different. Her fingers pressed into his, and he responded in kind.

" _Mhi shuk'la riduurok_ ," she finally agreed.

That was all it took to untangle years of a marriage, a simple declaration of truth: We have a shattered love.

"And it's over." Freed from the agreement, his heart weighed more. He raised his head to finally met her eyes, and he found a mirror of his own wide-eyed blink.

They still held each other's hands.

Then, he held nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based on a post-series scenario that may or may not be an AU for me. I'm not going to explain any of it now, not the events and reasons leading up to this divorce. I'm just going to write these ficlets. If there's something important that I haven't covered by the time I publish the last one, then I'll add a closing note to explain. I intend to write these chronologically, everything after this takes place after the divorce, so the events and reasons leading up to it won't be happening in real-time, so to speak.
> 
> **  
> **  
> _Mando'a_  
> 
> 
>   * _Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde._ \- "We are one together, we are one apart, we share all, we raise warriors."
>   * _Mhi shuk'la riduurok._ \- Traviss never gave any exact words for divorce in the Mandalorian tradition. Ilippi is said to have divorced Kal the “the _Mando_ way, same as they’d married, on a brief, solemn, private vow.” Traviss' "Mandalorians: People and Culture" article--one I take great issue with, I must say--says only that a couple needs simply to declare themselves _shuk'la riduurok_. I took the shortest route. I like it because it echoes the marriage contract a little and, as the work itself says, the sentence can be translated slightly different, with very different connotations. _Shuk'la riduurok_ can mean divorced, broken marriage contract, and broken love bond.
> 



End file.
